A Cornell University neurobiologist on Thursday played videos of fish humming, grunting and growling, and claimed that our ability to talk got its evolutionary start in fish hundreds of millions of years ago.

The demonstration was held in conjunction with an article by Cornell's Andrew Bass that was published today at 2 p.m. in the journal Science.

Courtesy of Cornell UniversityCornell professor Andrew Bass

"I think people are going to be really surprised," he said. "Most are unaware that fish are using sound for social communication."

While fish sounds have been recorded for decades, many people, even scientists, don't know that fish communicate this way, he said.

Bass studied fish larvae to track how brain neurons develop to make this communication possible. The process is basically the same in humans, Bass said, so a greater understanding of this process could help doctors treat patients who have lost the ability to speak because a stroke or other illness affected that part of the brain.